Air-brake mechanism.



No. 839,769. PATENTED DEC. 25, 1906.

E. 0. JORDAN & 0. B. BROWN.

AIR BRAKE-MECHANISM. APPLIOATION FILED FEB. 20, 1906 Y \7\\\ X .1 2 2 'l a- O mack/ d. fizz/67272772 v Z'ZWZOFQUC EFJCVIZ THE NORRIS PE'rzRs'ca, wAsqmzrran, a, c

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELMORE 0. JORDAN AND CHARLES E. BROWN, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

AIR-BRAKE MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 25, 1906.

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that we, ELMORE 0. JORDA and .CHARLEs B. BROWN, citizens of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Air-Brake Mechanism, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to that class of airbrake mechanism in which a quick-action triple valve is used for operating the brake mechanism; and the object thereof is to pro vide means whereby in long trains of cars the braking mechanism of any car in the train of cars can be released by the engineer on the engine Without releasing the braking mechanism of cars adjacent to the engine and coupled thereto, and also, if desired, to recharge-the auxiliary reservoirs of said car and those adjacent thereto without affecting to any appreciable extent cars closer to the engme.

We accomplish these objects by the mechanism described herein, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, which is a crosssection of a car equipped with the usual braking mechanism with our improvement applied thereto.

In the drawing, 1 represents a portion of the body of the car, and 2 is the usual braking mechanism, consisting of the usual auxiliary reservoir, brake-piston chamber, and triple valve. These arts are not more fully illustrated because 0 usual construction and no part of our invention. The triple valve is connected by ipe 3 to the usual train-line 4, through whic 1 the "braking mechanism is operated in the usual Well-known manner. To pipe 3 we connect a pipe 5, which leads to the supplemental train or air pipe 6, which pipe is connected to the air-supply on the engine the same as the train-line 4, except that instead of the usual controlling-valve it is provided in the cab with a three-way valve. 011 the connection-pipe 5 is a checkvalve 7, which prevents the passage of air from pipe 3 to pipe 6 and permits the passage of air from pipe 6 to pipe 3. Pipe 5 isalso provided with an ordinary cut-off cock 8, which when closed prevents the passage of air from pipe 6 to ipe 3. It will be understood that the tripl e valve of each car is connected to the train-line by a pipe similar to pipe 3 and that under each car the supplemental air-line 6 is connected to such pipe 3 by a connecting-pipe 5, provided with a check-valve and a cut-off cock.

In the operation of our device We will assume that a train of fifty cars are equipped therewith and with the usual air-brake mechanism and that the engineer has applied the brakes and desires to release the same. WVith the present equipment on a train of that character the brake on the first or nearest car to the engine would be released in the usual manner, and thereafter each succeeding car would have its brake released,

and the last car in the train would have its brakes released last. In this manner of releasing the brakes as each brake is released the resiliency of the buffer-springs on the car gives the cars in front a forward impetus, which on long trains often causes the cou lings to break and sometimes pulls out dra 'ttimbers, thereby delaying the movement of the train. When equipped with our device, before starting out the engineer determines at what parts of his train he desires to have the brakes released. We will assume that he has found by practice that on such a train it is desirable to commence releasing the brakes on the car at the rear end of the train and also on a car twenty-five cars from the rear of the train. In such case he has the stop-cock 8 on the last car and the stop-cock 8 on the twenty-fifth car from the rear of the train opened and all the other stop-cocks 8 closed. He then admits a pressure of air into the supplemental train-line sufficient to release the brakes on those cars and keeps the pressure up, whereby the other cars will have their braking mechanism released in the usual manner. At the same time, if desired, he can commence the release of the brakes at the forward end of the train through the main train-line in the usual manner, thereby preventing the breaking of the couplings, because the resiliency of the released buifer-springs has been taken up in different parts of the train, thereby distributing the strain and preventing the whole strain coming on a single coupling.

I-Iaving described our invention, what we claim is 1. In an air-brake mechanism, a supplemental air-line; connections from said supplemental line to the main air-line adjacent air-line pressure from passing to said suppleto the triple valves; check-valves on said mental line.

connections, said check-valves preventin main air-line ressure from passing to sai supplemental ine.

2. In an, air-brake mechanism, a supplemental air-line; connections from said supplemental line to the main air-line adjacent to the triple valves; cut-off cocks on said connections; and check-valves on said connections, said check-valves preventing main In Witness that We claim the foregoing We have hereunto subscribed our names this 10th 15 day of February, 1906.

ELMORE 0. JORDAN. CHARLES B. BROWN.

Witnesses:

G. E. HARPHAM, EDMUND A. STRAUSE. 

